Safety-receptacle



M."0. C ANNER.

SAFETY RECEPTACLE.

APPLICATION FILED APILIT, 1917.

Patented J my 13, 1920.

2 SHEEISSHEEI l INVENTOR Byflaz 0. 647272 .M. 0. CANNE R. SAFETYRECEPTACLE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17, 19.17-

Patented July 13, 1920.

g 2 SHEEIS-SHEEI 2.

MAX 0. GANNER, OF NEW YORK, N. 3.

PATENT ASSIGNOR 0F {ENE-HALF TU ALEXANDER DUFF AND SARAH DUFF, BOTH GEHE'W YDRK, N. E.

SAFETY-BECEPTACLE.

Application filed April 17, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MAX 0. CANNER, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety-Receptacles, .of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to safety receptacles for the reception anddelivery of one or more parcels or packages containing merchandise orother articles such as are intended for domestic use or consumption orfor general or individual distribution by milk-dealers, delivery men,letter-carriers, etc.

The object of my invention is more particularly to provide a receptacleof this character of a novel, simple and economical construction, whichis adapted to receive and securely to retain against unauthorizedremoval, such articles as bottled milk and cream, bread, groceries,mail, and other supplies that are ordinarily distributed to, or left atthe doors of, householders, apar ment-house tenants, and others.

A further object of my invention is to provide a receptacle of thischaracter that may be securely placed and left outside the door of ahouse or of an apartment without the use of objectionable hooks, screwsand other fastenings, attachments or supports, to mar the door or jamb,such as have hitherto been required in connection with devices of thisclass. V

A further object of my invention is to provide a portable receptacle ofthis charactor that may readily be picked up. and carried into the houseor apartment with its contents when the door is opened in the morning,and which is provided with novel and simple means which, when thereceptacle is placed outside for the night, on gages the sill orthreshold-strip under the door, so that upon closing the latter, thereceptacle is automatically locked in position.

A. further object ofmy invention is to provide a receptacle of thischaracter either of unitary or sectional construction, that is or mayreadily be divided into compart ments or subdivisions which may conveniently be arrangedto receive articles of various specific classes andthus, where necessary, to safeguard and protect these from Specificationof Letters Patent.

Serial No. 162,633.

mutual contamination, interference and injury, such as has hithertoresulted when such articles, in the case of apartment houses, have beendelivered to tenants by way of the ordinary dumb-waiters employed forpromiscuous houseservrce.

A still further object of my invention is toprovide means for the readyreturn of empty packages or containers without at the same time exposingto surreptitious removal other articles that may have been previouslydeposited for delivery to the house or apartment.

With the foregoing and other objects in wow, the invention conslsts ofcertain novel features of constructlon, combination and arrangements ofparts, as will be hereinafter more fully described with reference to theaccompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In the drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure 1 1saperspective view of one form and construction of my recep tacle, whichI have selected, from a number of others that I may use, for the purposeof illustrating the invention herein disclosed and described.

partly in section, taken at :0, m, ofoFig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation of the device along the lines 11 3on Fig. 2 showing the main compartment of the receptacle as it appearswith the lid open. Fig. 4 is a sectional end elevation similar to Fig. 3but showingthe position of the parts when the lid is closed, and alsoshowing the manner 111 which the receptacle 1s held to the thresholdwhen a door is closed against its open front, well as the manner inwhich the receptacle and its contents are thereby safeguarded. Fig. 5 isa detail sectional view of a portion of the separate mail-receivlngpropriate material, and of any suitable or desirable design,construction and capacity,

according to the purpose or purposes for which it is to be used. In theexample illustrated, the receptacle is closed at its two ends, back andbottom, being entirely open at the front and provided Wlf-ll a cover, 2,

Patented July 13, 1920.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, with end and rear walls that isfreely hinged at 3 to the rear upper edge of the receptacle 1.

' The bottom wall 17 of the receptacle 1 is mounted upon an adjustablebase member 5, preferably of sheet metal. Said supporting member 5, asshown, is formed with stiffening ribs or corrugations, 8, on part of itsunder surface, and also with downwardly extending flanges, as more fullyshown at 6 and 7 in Fig. 1, by which the r ceptacle 1 is raised abovethe floor to a height just over the threshold'sill 9. 'lhisconstruction,as will be seen from an inspection of said Fig. 1, is such that when thedoor 12 is closed over the flange 6, the receptacle is not only firmlyand immovably clamped to the floor, but the entire open front of thereceptacle will like-' wise be firmly and immovably held in directcontact with and closed by the said door and be thereby protected fromall access to household supplies and other articles deposited therein.

v The threshold-plate 5, and the bottom of thereceptacle 1, are furtherprovided with slots 11, 11, that are engaged by suitable bolts and nuts12, 12, respectively as shown, by which the receptacle .1 may bepermanently adjusted to any given door and willyat the same timeeffectively secure the threshold-plate 5 and the receptaclel against alleffort to tamper with or remove the same. It will be seen that there areno chains, bolts, sockets, screws or similar fastenings i re quired asin previous devices of this character, nor is there any damage to ormarring oftliefloor, amb orother adjacent parts as occurs in attachingsuchdevices. The simple act of placing the receptacle over the sill.

. and closing the door 12, locksit in position and the opening ofsaiddoor by the owner or tenant releases it. j V i It will also beobserved that by my improved construction the receptacle 1 is in aneasily accessible and at the same time in an unobtrusive position, sinceits base rests almost'directly against the floor, and it may be placedas nearas desired toward the jamb,

13, (Fig. 2) to which the door 12 is secured by hinges 14 inthe usualmanner. This permits of the use of receptacles of fairly largesize,where such are desired,

without interfering with ingress and egress by members of the householdafter the same has been placed in position for the night.

In the particular embodiment of the invention herein illustrated, thereis shown a receptacle subdivided into two separate, com partments by thepartition 15. The smaller compartment, 16, shown at the left of Figs. 1and 2, is designed and intended for the reception of mail, while thelarger compart- 'ment, 17, shown at the right, is constructed andadapted for the reception, storage and delivery of bottles containingmilk, cream, etc. It is to be understood, however, that the constructionand arrangement about to be described may be modified by me so as toadapt the device forthe safe reception and delivery of otheroradditional articles, such as bread, groceries, etc.

It should be observed at this point that in the preferred constructionof the device, provision is made in a simple and effective manner forthe independent insertion of the several classes of articles, (as mailand milk) irrespective of the order in which they may be deposited,without the danger of loss of either by theft'or otherwise. Again, whenmy improved receptacle, or a given section thereof, as the compartment17, is to be utilized for the delivery of milk as herein illustrated,means are also provided to facilitate the return of empty bottles and toreceive and safeguard the full bottles left in their stead.

. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, and also to the sectional end views inFigs. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the interior of the compartment 17'is provided with one or' more folding shelves 18, 18, that arepreferably hinged to the rear wall of the receptacle 1. lhese shelvesare'normally held against said wall by the hinge-springs 19, 19, but maybe lowered into a horizontal position against suitable stops 20, 20,which in the case of re ceptacles made of sheet metal or other pressedor molded material, may be embossed into or formed integrally with theend walls thereof as shown. The free ends of these shelves are eachoffset by an inclined stiffening flange, 21, that is bent away from therear wall so as slightly to project into the interior of the receptaclewhen the shelves 18 are in their normally elevated position.

These flanges at the same time serve to present an inclined guidingsurface for the milk bottles 22, 22, as will be' hereinafter more fullyset fort I lVhen more than one of the hinged shelves 18,:are employed ina given receptacle, they may be arranged to overlap in order to saveroom, as more clearly shown in Fig. l. In Figs. 1 and 2, the shelf 18 isillustrated as occupying substantially the full length of the 1compartment 17, although in practice it need be only of sufficientlength tohold an empty standard milk'bottle of 1 quart capacity. In thiscase the lower shelf (when two shelves are provided.) may be'hinged soas to occupy the space at one end of the compartment only, while theupper shelf occupies the space at the opposite end of the compartment.This upper shelf is adapted to hold an empty standard cream or milkbottle of 1 pint capacity. The vertical distance separating the twoshelves is such that the tops of the respective bottles will extend tosuch a height that the hinged cover, 2, of the receptacle 1 will restupon them or either of them, as shown in Fig. 3, in such manner as toprevent said cover being fully closed and lOCiOtl, while at the sametime forming a protecting hood or shield for the same.

The cover 2 is provided on its under side with a spring-pressed latch,23, that is adapted to engage with a locking-bar, 2 1-, at a point nearthe center front portion of the receptacle 1 when the cover is fullydepressed. The cover 2 is furnished with a bail or handle, 25, by whichthe receptacle may readily be carried to and from its place upon thethreshold when the cover is. locked. The latch 23 is provided with athumb-lever extension 26 by which the cover may be released only bypressure thereon from the inside of the receptacle, which can be doneboth before the door 12 is closed against the receptacle, and againafter the door 12 is opened in the morning and the receptacle with itscontents are carried indoors. The cover 2 is preferably so pivoted thatit may be swung entirely over until the handle 25 rests against the backof the receptacle, so as completely to open the top of the recep-.

' tacle in order that free access to the interior of the compartment 17may be had therethrough both for the insertion of empty and. fullbottles, and also, if desired, for the subsequent withdrawal of the fullbottles. although these latter are ordinarily and more convenientlyremoved through the open front of the receptacle after the same isiarried into the pantry or kitchen.

hen returning empty bottles, the receptacle is placed in position, cover2 is fully thrown back and all the empties but one are deposited uponthe bottom of the receptacle. The remaining empty is placed on eitherthe lower or the upper shelf 18, according as to whether it be a quartor a pint bottle. In placing this last empty bottle, all that isnecessary is to bring its lower edge in contact with the inclined flange21 of the appropriate shelf 18, during the operation of lowering thesaid bottle into the receptacle. This action will automatically depressand guide the flange of the shelf along the bot tom of the bottle untilthe latter rests squarely upon its shelf, as shown in Fig. 3, whereuponthe cover 2 is placed in its unlocked position over the mouth of thesame. In this condition the receptacle is left until the followingmorning, when the milk deliveryman is ready to collect the empty anddeposit the full bottles. In performing this operation, the delivery-mansimply swings open the'cover 2 and lifts the empty bottle off its shelf18, which under the actionof its spring 19 will again fold itselfagainst the back of the receptacle 1. He then re- 1OV6S the remainingempty bottle or bottles if any, deposits the desired number of full theinside without making use of keys that may be duplicated and used byunauthorized persons.

The compartment 16, as shown at theleft of the receptacle in Figs. 1 and2, is designed and constructed, as heretofore stated, for the receptionof letters and other mail matter. Thecover 2 is provided with an openslot, 26, having flaring, convergent lips, 27 27 that face downwardlyinto the compartment 16 as shown more clearly inFig. 5. Imme diatelybelow the cover-slot 26 are arranged a series of similarly convergingguide-fingers 28, 28. These fingers are preferably in the form ofinclined prongs punched or stamped from the material of the walls 1 and15. The purpose of these lips and fingers is not only to act as guidesfor inserting the mail, but to prevent the withdrawal of letters whetherthe cover 2 be open or closed.

The central front portion of the partition 15 is recessed or cut away tofacilitate removal of the mail when the door 12 is opened, withoutnecessarily moving thereceptacle 1 from its place. lVhen combined with areceptacle having a compartment 17 adapted to hold one or more milkbottles of standard quart size, as herein shown and described, the mailcompartment 16 will be of the proper height and depth to hold letterscontained in ordinary as well as legal size envelops. Furthermore, inorder to protect the mail from moisture due to drippings of milk, water,etc., and also properly and permanently to fix the space apportioned tothe mail compartment, the partition 15 is formed with integral lower,upper and rear spacing flanges as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Various changes in the form, proportion and other details ofconstruction of my safety receptacle herein described may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of my invention, or sacrificing any ofthe advantages thereof.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A safety receptacle comprising a casing open at one side thereof, andadapted to be placed outside of and to be closed by the door of thehouse or apartment, said casing having a compartment provided with afolding shelf hingedto the back of the same at a point above the bottomof said casing, said shelf having an inclined guiding edge portion andbeing adapted to guide, receive and shelf, the said cover is kept out oflocking engagement, substantially as described;

2. safety receptacle comprising a casing'having an open top providedwith a hinged cover having a locking catch, a shelf hinged to the, backof the casing at a point aboveflthe bottom of said casing and adapted toreceive-and hold an empty milk bottle, said shelf having a forwardly anddownwardly inclined flange portion, and a spring associated with saidhinge and shelf for normally maintaining said shelf in an upright foldedposition against the back of said casing with the flange thereofprojecting forward, the construction being such that when an empty milkbottle is inserted at a slight angle through the open top of saidcasing, the bottom of said'bottle will engage said projecting flangeandcause said shelf to descend with it until the bottle rests upon theshelf in its horizontal position with the mouth of the bottle projectingslightly above the open top of said casing, whereby the cover may bebrought to rest upon the mouth of the bottleand thus be maintained outof locking engagement until theem'pty bottle rectly upon the bottom ofthe receptacle, substantially described;

3. A safety receptacle of the character described, the same being in theform of a casing having an open front adapted to be closed" by the doorof a house or apartment, said receptacle having a supporting basedesigned and adapted to pass between the door.

and its sill and having means to engage the inner edge of such slll, andcooperatlng adustable clamping means between sald'casing and basewhereby the receptacle may said basevmember serving as a support for csaid receptacle and having downwardly proecting flanges whereby saidbase member may be caused" to bllClQfQ the space between the door andits sill and to engage the inner edge of said sill in such manner as toprevent theremoval of the receptacle and to protect articles depositedtherein against removal while said entrance door remains closed.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this llthday of April, A. 1). 19l7., l

MAX 0. GANNER.

Witnesses:

I. SOSKIN, VD, BERMAN.

